Transcript

My name is Jonathan. I'm happy to be here to bring the message. Thanks, Wes.

Not scheduled to be the one preaching this morning. Most of you all know that Pastor Gary's family has been going through a pretty rough trial here over the last couple weeks, and they are. The whole family is up in Virginia to be with his little brother Donnie, who had a stroke about a week and a half ago. And the latest update from them is that they were planning on bringing him off the ventilator yesterday, and they've chosen to do that today instead this afternoon sometime. So just be in prayer for them.

It's not looking particularly positive in terms of his outcome, but at the same time, Pastor Gary and I know others have been agreeing with him in prayer that God's will would be done. And so we're trusting in that and that God will use this for good. So let's pray for that family right now. Lord, we bring to you Donnie and his whole family as they're in this trial. We pray and give this whole situation to you.

Lord, you are the healer. You're the comforter. We pray for your supernatural comfort and peace to be given to that family now, even through this dark time of trial and tribulation, Lord, that you would just find a way to do what you do best, and that's to take situations that look tough and look bad from the outside, Lord, and you can turn them to something good. And we give that to you. We ask for your will to be done.

We ask for Donnie's children especially, Lord, that you would comfort them and just be with them and hold them in your hands as they go through this trial. So we pray this in your name. Amen. So, had relatively short notice for this, so I'm bringing you a message that I had prepared earlier about five years ago at a men's retreat. So if there's grunting involved or, like, you know, things like that, I apologize.

This was originally for a men's retreat. And I know women. That's what you think we do all the time at the men's retreat, it's just, you know, and grunt and act like cavemen. So it's not really how it goes. We have another one coming up in a couple weeks.

By the way, it's not too late to sign up. We'd love to have you all. So this is from five years ago. And some of y' all probably see the shirt still. It's the one.

It's green and it's got the karate dude on it. That's what this is from. So there's some metaphors from like, karate dude coming your way this morning. So women, don't worry. This is from the word.

It's going to be applicable to you as well. So we're talking about faith life. We're talking about the kind of life that God wants for us, the kind of life that he gives us through faith. And we're looking at Ephesians chapter 2. My prayer is that even though this message was.

Was planned five years ago and was not the one that was supposed to be here this morning, that God's Holy Spirit can use this to speak to all of us, Right? It's his word. His Holy Spirit is here. And so my goal is that the Lord would speak to you through this. I don't know where you came this morning.

Maybe you are having doubts or questions or you're unsure about your relationship. You're standing with God. You're not sure where you stand. You're not sure if you're right with God. You're not sure if you want to be right with God.

You just have all sorts of questions. Ephesians chapter 2 is a foundational passage that speaks to you about how to be made right with God. Maybe you came here this morning and you've made a decision maybe recently to follow Jesus. You changed the course of your life. God has made you alive through His Holy Spirit, but you're still facing entrapment.

You're still facing the same kinds of struggles that you had before you were a Christian. And you were hoping that all that stuff was just going to go away once you made a decision to follow Jesus. And here you are, still struggling with these same problems. You're going, what's going on? Ephesians Chapter two can speak to you about this.

Maybe you've been a Christian for a while and you're looking okay, what does God want from me? What am I supposed to be doing with this? Okay, I'm happy that he's given me life. I'm happy that he's made me right with him, that he's forgiven my sins. Now what?

Ephesians Chapter two speaks to you. So I'm praying that the Holy Spirit speaks to all of us in some way through this passage in Ephesians chapter 2. So Paul wrote this to a church in the region of Ephesus. I'm sorry. In the city of Ephesus.

He was teaching them that God moves us from spiritual death to spiritual life and that he can free us from the kinds of influences and the sorts of things that we were struggling with before we moved from death to life, and that he can put us to good work in his kingdom. So that's what we're going to learn about today, is how to live the kind of life God has for us when he moves us from death to life. So let's read God's Word. We're in the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, 1:10.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing.

It's the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God's word. Amen. All right, so let's dig in.

How do we experience the kind of life God has for us? Through faith. First, move from death to life. Move from death to life might seem a little obvious. That's okay.

Points from Scripture are a lot of times obvious. You look at them, you go, what is this trying to say? Well, we were once dead. We can be made alive. Starts right there.

You were dead. This is good news. You were dead in trespasses and sins. Have you ever noticed, if you're reading through the Bible, there's actually a lot of different words that talk about this concept of sin or, you know, bad stuff you're not supposed to do. What?

There's actually a lot of different words. So you see sins, you see trespasses, Iniquities is another one. That's a Fun one to say iniquity, sins, and trespasses, those right here, two different words. Is Paul just repeating himself? Did he use the same word twice just to.

No, it's actually two different words. So the word sins there, if you've been around here any length of time, you've probably heard the analogy of missing the mark, like. Like an archery kind of term. And that's kind of the biblical understanding of that word. There's God's righteousness, There's God's kind of perfection, God's righteousness.

And we have missed that mark. We've not measured up to God's righteousness. That's that word sin. And then trespasses. Well, that sounds like trespassing.

There's no trespassing signs. I mean, it's kind of like that. The idea is you've wandered off, you've gotten off course, you've fallen off into a place where you don't need to be. And that might be willful. Like, I looked at that and went, I want to go over there, even though I'm not supposed to be over there.

You've fallen off, or, you know, maybe you got tripped up somehow and you've ended up in a place where you didn't want to be trespasses. So two different kind of words. But the idea here is that when you're walking in those, your spirit is. Is dead. Your soul is dead.

You don't have spiritual life. So some of y' all maybe came. Came this morning saying, I really hope I'm gonna give this one last shot. I'm gonna come to church one more time and see if I can just figure out how to make my life a little bit better. Well, that's not really the promise God gives us.

The promise God gives us is, you are dead, but I'll make you alive. That's the promise he gives us. How does this work? How does he make us alive? Well, you can't make yourself alive if you're dead.

You can't make yourself alive. Only Jesus, only the power that raised Jesus from the dead can do that. And he says you can do that through faith. Look at verse four. What are the first two words of verse four?

They're the most beautiful words in the Bible. What are they? Call it out. What was it but God? Best two words of the Bible.

You were dead in your sins and trespasses, but God. But God did not leave you there. You were dead in your sins, but God being rich in mercy made you alive. You were in rebellion against your Creator. You were in rebellion against your creator.

Not just wandering around life, just kind of in neutral. No, you were in rebellion, but God is rich in mercy, and he made you a way out of that. You were on a path to eternity. You were part of the Children of Wrath. What does that mean?

You're on a path to eternity without God. But God made a new path that didn't exist before. But God made you alive. God gave you eternal life. Your life was meaningless.

It had no purpose. You're just living out the days to gratify the desires of the flesh. And eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow you shall die. But God being rich in mercy has given you a purpose you didn't have before because he's made you alive. You were dead, now you're alive.

But God. These are the two most beautiful words in the Bible because it means that there's promise, there's hope for all of us, that no matter where we are, no matter how dead we are, God has life planned for us. And it's life that only he can give. Have you ever noticed this is a little thought experience here? Experiment.

This comes from C.S. lewis. He says, try to imagine a monster in your head. So everybody do this right now. So think about a monster.

Like, create one. Like, don't think about one that somebody else has created. Create one for yourself. Put it in your mind. What's it looking like?

What kind of features does it have? He says it's impossible to create a monster. That's not just a rearrangement of parts from other either monsters or other animals. So, like, you put these eyes and you put these teeth and you put these claws together, and now you have a monster. His point is, we're not all that creative.

We think we're creative. There are people that are very, very creative in life. I am not one of those. If you ask me to draw something, it's going to be a stick figure. I figured out how to put a little hat on there and a little cane.

And I mean, that's about it. I got a stick figure thing that I can do. Not a creative person. Even the most creative people, though, you look at that and you go, wow, how did they. They brought something out of nothing.

Something just popped into their head. And then out came this piece of music, or out came this. This piece of art. Wow, they're so creative, but they're really not creating anything. They're just rearranging atoms, right?

They're rearranging colors that God created. They're rearranging particles that God created. They're rearranging pieces of nature that God created. And that's an amazing. It's part of the image of God in us to be creative like that.

But fundamentally we can't be creative. We can't create things that don't exist. Same same way here. We can't breathe life into ourselves. God has to do it.

And how does he do it? Through faith, through trusting. Faith has always been the way. Read from the very beginning of the Bible. Faith has always been the way to be made right with God.

The way you're made right with God is through faith, trusting. Let's look at John 5:24. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who has sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. So if you're dead, you can't make yourself alive first.

John 5, 11, 12. And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life. This life is in his son. Whoever has a son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

So have you moved from death to life yet? Have you moved from death to life yet? What does that look like? Well, it's by faith. That's what it says.

By grace. By faith. Verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith. So faith means it's not faith as in believing.

Like I know X, Y and Z. Faith is a trusting faith. Think about it like a verb. I'm faithing Jesus like that. I'm faithing Jesus.

Meaning I got questions, I got doubts. This seems impossible to me. I don't know how this works, but I'm gonna put all my eggs in this basket. I'm gonna put everything I got, all my chips on this fact right here. This person I'm faithing that Jesus can make me right with God.

I got no other way to do this. So I'm gonna put it all on Jesus. He's made me right with God. And that's what brings life. That's the kind of faith that brings life.

Not fixing ourselves, not making ourselves just a what gives us life, eternal life is faithing Jesus, trusting Jesus. So that's the first step we got if we want to live the kind of life God has for us, the kind of faith life we got to move from death to life. Okay, number two. Know your enemies. You can start to tell.

This is men's retreat sermon. Yeah. Know your enemies.

We sing a lot of songs. I don't know if you all notice this. You know church music goes through phases and, you know, it's been going on for thousands of years. And right now there's a lot of songs in church life about battles and enemies. Have you all noticed that a lot of battles and enemies songs.

Well, that's biblical. There's a lot of battles and enemies that happen in the Bible. It's not unbiblical.

I just think we need to be careful to make sure we know who our enemies are, that we're not picturing the wrong enemy as we're singing these songs. Because we can get kind of sideways when we have the wrong enemy. Ephesians chapter two helps us to know our enemies, make sure we got the right enemies. We have three of them. They used to be our friends.

When we were dead, they were happy. All was cool, all was good. Now that we have some life, now that we have some freedom, now that the weight of making ourselves good enough to be made right with God has lifted, they're not so cool anymore. These enemies don't like that. What are these three enemies?

Well, let's look. Following the course of this world. Did you see that in verse two, you once walked following the course of this world? That's the first enemy. Second enemy.

Following the prince of the power of the air. That's the second enemy. The third enemy among verse three. We all lived in the passions of our flesh. It's a third enemy.

So if we just want to like, put a name on these enemies, the world, the devil, the flesh. These are three enemies. They are operating to try and keep us living in the way that we used to live when we were dead. As objects of wrath, children of wrath, of the kind of life that just leads to meaningless end. Death.

These three enemies are trying to keep us there. We have to recognize that. What is the world? Well, it's interesting, it says, following the course of the world. Following the course of the world.

Just the. Basically the way things go, the way things tend to be when God's not present, when people are left to their own devices and they say, my will be done, not thy will be done. How does the world just kind of end up like Lord of the Flies style, you know what I'm saying? Like, what is the world? How do things end up?

And without God, we tend to be self interested, not interested in others. The powerful are in charge. So we seek power, we seek influence, we seek money, we seek security. And these things have been operating, people have been operating outside of the will of God for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. And so there are things that have just become ingrained in the course of the world.

The search for power, the search to be right, the search to control, the search for money, the search for security, self interest. It's just the course of the world. It's just the way the world goes. And it's like that old movie, the Matrix. We're living in the world that's designed that way.

We got to recognize that. We got to recognize that the world, just as it goes, is in opposition to the kind of life that God wants for us. So we gotta recognize it, we gotta make sure we see it. The second enemy, the devil following the prince of the power of the air. This is one we don't like to talk about, but it's based on the fundamental belief that we have that there is more to life than just the atoms, the electrons and protons and neutrons and whatever.

Y' all kids studying physics, tell me what these things are like. What are the elemental things of the created world? There's more than just that. There is a spiritual realm. We have a heavenly Father, we have a Jesus, who's our advocate in the spiritual realms.

We also have an enemy in the spiritual realms that does not want us to live the kind of life God wants for us. We have to recognize, we don't like to talk about it, we don't like to think about it, but it's an enemy that we have to be aware of. The third, the flesh. Pretty familiar with this one, right? No, just me.

Okay? Just me. We're familiar with the flesh. This is the desires that we have to make ourselves feel good, right? What is it that we want in life?

It's just basically to be comfortable and to feel good right in that life. But there are pieces of that that are self destructive. So I'll use my example. I love ice cream. If you know me, you know I love ice cream.

It's wonderful. It's great. You know, the problem comes is that it can be destructive, right? If you eat too much of it, like just in one sitting, it'll make you feel bad at some point. I'm still, still trying to figure out that point.

No, I'm kidding. At some point you eat too much of it, it's gonna make you feel bad. If you eat way too much of it over too many times, it's gonna be destructive to your body, right? My problem is like, you know, okay, you know those pints, I don't know how many servings are supposed to be in that, but in my head I think to myself, two, no No, I think two. When I start, I'm like, I'm stop halfway.

I'll stop halfway. I'll get two servings out of this thing. It'll be great. The problem comes. It's like, you keep going.

You're like, this is very good. I'm enjoying life. I like this ice cream. And then I'm like, I take one too many. I'm like, oh, man, I've just gone over half.

I can't do this to future me. Future me can't pull this out and go, there's less than half. This is not a satisfying amount of ice cream. Might as well just eat the whole thing now, right? Anybody else feel this way?

Yeah. I mean, gratifying the desires of the flesh, you know, these are generally. They're anchored in good things or things like food and the experience of life that we need and that God has created for us to have pleasure in life. It's great. It's when we over indulge in those things that they become bad and they're existing.

They become an enemy to us. And this is one we don't typically look at as an enemy because it's us. How can we be the enemy? So, like, when you're singing the songs, put your flesh in there first. When you're singing about the enemies, start with that one.

Before you start thinking about other people, before you start thinking about other political parties, that they must be the enemy. Put yourself there first in the song and recognize that your flesh and that desire to just overindulge is working against you. Okay, so here's an analogy that I like to think about to help. You can kind of see these three enemies at work. All right?

It's football season, right? Football season's back. It's good. So. So the analogy is football.

So you're the quarterback. Put yourself in the game. You're the quarterback. You have the ball. You're on offense.

You have a job to do. It's to move the ball down the field, right? Positive yards, hopefully getting to a touchdown. So that's your job. You're trying to move the ball forward.

Well, is there a defense on the field? Yes. That's like our first step is we have to realize there's not just offense on the field, y'. All. We what?

We go through life thinking, there's no defense. There's defense because know your enemies, right? So there's a defense on the field. So the world. What is that?

It's like the defensive scheme. So the other team's defensive coordinator has been studying all week putting together a system that's designed to make you as the quarterback fail, right? They say, okay, you know what, if we put pressure over on this side, chances are I know that guy, he's going to roll out this way, we'll make our safety go over there and he's got nowhere to throw to, right? They've designed a scheme to make you fail. They've designed a system that works against you.

That's the world, the world's systems, the world's schemes work against spiritual life and work against the kind of life, the abundant life that God has for us. It's ingrained in the system. You gotta know it's there. Then the devil, I envision him as like that kind of wild eyed, crazy eyed linebacker that's like back there prowling around, you know, like he's looking, he's trying to, he's trying to intimidate the quarterback, going, ha. You know, this is crazy.

Like that guy's crazy. He's just back there prowling around. He just wants to get in there and find an opening and just blow the quarterback up. You know, that's what they live for. That's kind of how I, that's like the devil, you know, looking for an opening.

He's going to attack the third enemy, the flesh. So if you're the quarterback, that's you. The quarterback's the enemy to himself. So the perfect play is designed. They got a play that's going to neutralize the system of the defensive scheme.

And they've got guys blocking the linebacker, so all's good. And the snap comes and the quarterback says, wait a minute, I will make this play. My name enlights. I will be the hero. I want the Gatorade poured on me, right?

And so he says, I got the legs, I'll run for this, right? Or he's like, I'm gonna make the greatest pass ever. And he's not looking behind him and just gets blown up. Or he decides, I'm gonna run. Have you ever seen the quarterbacks that start running and they're like running 10 yards back and you're like, that's the wrong way.

Because he's like, I can do this, I can fix this, I will be the hero. And you're like, you are running the wrong way. You are your own worst enemy. Or you just get completely blown up going down the field because you wanted to gratify the desires of your flesh, of yourself. You see what I'm saying?

These are three different enemies. All Working. We have to be aware of them. We have to be aware of the fact that God has something for us. But there are enemies that are trying to keep us from that goal.

And it's not to be mad at them. It's not to be angry, not to be fearful. Okay, I'm going to look for a devil under every rock. Or I'm going to. Every person I see outside of these four walls, I'm going to be like, are you my enemy?

Not like that, but just being circumspect and understanding that God has something for us and the systems of this world and the devil and ourselves are operating against those purposes. Let me give you an example. So, okay, Galatians 5.

Here we go. Galatians 5. Oh, hold on. Let me read some scriptures. So you all don't think I'm, like, making this up, that these are our three enemies before we get there.

Sorry. This is what happens when you prepare late. Okay. Romans 12:2. Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world.

The behavior and customs of this world. The way just the default way the world works ends up being the behavior and customs of this world. And he's saying just to believers, don't copy that. That's not your. That's not what God has designed for you.

Don't copy that. The world that's. That's an enemy. First Peter 5:8. Stay alert.

Watch out for your great enemy, the linebacker, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. That's that second enemy. The third. Galatians 5:24.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So that flesh, that's our third enemy. So how do these enemies work together? So Galatians 5, 19, 20 gives a list. So here in Ephesians, chapter two, Paul's saying, hey, you used to be part of the children of wrath.

You used to be operating in a certain way before you were alive. He doesn't really tell us what that exactly looks like. Galatians 5, 1920 actually gives us a list of what that looked like. And so here's some of the works of the flesh. Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions.

These are works of the flesh. These are sins. They are trespasses. They are things that are in opposition to God's. Best for you.

And we like to, you know, kind of zone in on a few of them. But did you all notice some of them that seem to cluster together that we don't typically think of as really like sinful, like selfish ambition. Well, jeez, that's kind of important, right? In order to get ahead in this world, you got to have selfish ambition. Dissensions.

Is there any dissension in the world right now? Y' all recognize that that's sinful. It's not just not useful, it's saying this works, the flesh, that's sin. Factions pitting one group against the other is a sinful action. So how do we get caught up in this?

Well, there's recognize that there are enemies trying to keep us in that world. So if y' all been talking to me, you'll recognize I can kind of get a little bit on a soapbox on this topic. So I'll try not to stay up here too long. But let's just take an example. You're scrolling through social media and the post pops up.

Maybe it's an ad, maybe it's a post from a friend of yours or a page you follow or something. And the post, you've seen these posts. It's some variation of those people are the worst. Those people hate you. Those people, they are wrong.

We are right. We know the truth. They are wrong. And you start feeling that like inside of you, right? That's, that's works of the flesh, y'.

All, that's dissensions, that's factions, that's discord.

That's not healthy. That's not the kind of life God wants for us. And so maybe you said to yourself, well, you know, I'm pretty good at the whole social media thing. I just, I just flip past that. I don't reply, I don't like, I don't share.

But let me ask you, inside of you, do you feel. Yeah, those people are out to get me because it starts inside. That's where the sin starts. So you don't have to share it in order to get caught up in the works of the flesh, of dissensions and factions and discord. It starts inside of you.

So what are the three enemies that are at work here? Well, one of them is the schemes of the world. The course of the world. So what does the world run on? The world runs on power.

The world runs on money. The world runs on influence and control. That's what the world runs on. Please be aware, social media is not some benevolent thing that's been given to you for your well being. It's just part of the course of the world.

It's people in business trying to find ways to make money. That's what it is, right? And you are the product. You are not the customer. You are the product.

You haven't paid for this, so you are the product. And your attention and your engagement on this platform is being sold to advertisers to make insane amounts of money for these social media companies. That's what it is. I'm not saying it's bad to use. If you want to use it, that's great.

But be aware of what it is. It's part of the world's system to make money on you. And we've only had these things for the last 15, 20 years. They're relatively new in the world of human history. And they found pretty effectively that stories like the ones that I gave you, that creates that kind of outrage and that create that kind of polarization and that kind of anger are some of the most effective content to get what they need out of you, which is your attention, which is your engagement to sell you at the highest bidder to advertisers.

That kind of stuff is really good at making them money. There's a scheme at work. It's not. That kind of thing is not necessarily neutral. There's a scheme at work to keep you in that kind of state of spiritual being.

And that's in opposition to what God wants. Okay, so that's one of the enemies working. The flesh is working too, because that feels good. Doesn't it feel good to be right? I know it does for me.

Feels good to be on the winning team rather than losing team. And so that kind of fleshly desire to be on the right side of everything is working. And you're like, yeah, yeah, I'm the good one. Those people are the bad people. It feels good.

It's part of just what we want to experience in life. That's the flesh. So you put those two things together and that's not so good. And then the devil comes in. It starts moving those attitudes and those thoughts to real life.

Now all of a sudden, he's stolen. What does it say in John 10:10? The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. So he's stolen the fruits of the spirit from you. That love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, that's been stolen from your spirit.

And all of a sudden you start looking at other people, and God has a plan for you with those people, to share his love and his grace. And all of a sudden you are on the shelf. And because you don't want those people to have grace. You don't want those people to have love. You don't want those people to have goodness and kindness.

So the devil has stolen that from you and the people that are around you in your life. See how these things work together? That's an example. There are others. I think an example that we could all probably understand is addiction.

We all struggle with addictions in some area of our life. And how do these things work together? Well, the world system tells us just, you know, if it feels good, do it. You know, that's what, eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we will die. This is the way the world works.

It's fine, just, you know, indulge. So we're kind of in this world, in this system that just says, it's cool, it's okay, it's good. And so we kind of get drug into it. The flesh obviously loves. That's, you know, my ice cream example is an example of that.

The flesh loves whatever we're using to pacify our, our desires for a little while. So the flesh wants it. And then the devil comes in and starts accusing because that's another name for him. He's the accuser. So he starts saying, you're never going to get rid of this addiction.

You're not good enough for God. See, you just proved it again. See, you're not good enough. You can't fix this. He starts accusing and pointing a finger at you.

It just keeps the cycle going. You see how the enemies are working together. We got to stop thinking that we're on offense and there's no defense. Know your enemies. God wants a certain life for us.

An abundant life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, generous and self control of the kind of abundant life he has for us. And there are enemies that are working against that. And we have to recognize that and be aware of him rather than just being carried along the course of the world. Okay, we spent a lot of time there. So the first, move from death to life.

Second, know your enemies. Know the enemies that are trying to keep you working back in your, in your death life. And then third, get to work, get to work. So look at this, especially in, in verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So God made us alive for what purpose? To do good works. Let's be careful. It does not say that we are made alive through good works. We are not made alive by good works.

God's not waiting for us to start doing some things and get our lives back together. And at the end of the day, at the end of our life, we've got to make sure we've done a certain number of good works. And then he accepts us. Then we're made right with Him. No, it doesn't say that.

But it does say that he saved us. He made us alive for good works. He wants us to get to work. He wants us to join him in his work in the world. Look at verse 10.

For we are his workmanship, like craftsmanship. We are his workmanship, created for good works. So kind of the way I think about it is like, if you think about a factory, there are tools that are created in the factory. Somebody has designed them and. And created the tool for the purpose of turning out widgets.

See what I'm saying? So, like, don't take this wrong way. You're the tool. Okay? God has created you for a purpose.

He's created you to be one that makes these widgets, that makes these good works. So get to work. Don't have been created beautifully to be put into this environment where you can create these good works and then just not make anything right. He created you for a purpose, to do good works. Look at Second Thessalonians 2, 11, 12.

So we keep on praying for you. This is Paul writing to another church, asking God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. So the call comes first, and he's praying that you'd live a life worthy of that call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. The faith comes first, and then they prompt the good works.

Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6, 9, 10. So let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time. We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.

Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially those who in the family of faith, y'. All. The world needs some good works, doesn't it? Have you looked around? Have you thought about what's going on in our world?

The world needs some good works. The world doesn't need a bunch of Christians sitting around going, those people.

No, the world needs some good works. Identity is a thing that we talk about a lot in our culture, and we need to talk about it in church because it's super important identity is who you are at your core. Who are you really? And the world, the course of the world says, well, it's things that are external to you, or it's things that are inside of you, what you really want. That's your identity.

What we believe is that your primary identity, what is most important about you is the fact that you are a child of God. That's it. That's the core of your identity. Once you were dead, now you are alive, and he's made you one of his kids. That's the most important, absolute core thing about who you are.

That's your identity. And he created you to be one of his children so that you would join him on his redemptive mission to mankind. It says in 2nd Corinthians 5 that he has been reconciling the world to himself. And now he's made us all, all of us ministers of that reconciliation. He's put us to work on his mission to mankind so that as many people as would would trust in him to be made right with God.

That's your core identity, y'. All. You're a child of God called to join him in his work in the world. Now, there are things that are external to us. You know, your.

Your gender, your race, your personality, what you're good at, your experiences. There's all sorts of things that we can kind of put in place of our identity, of what's really core. What's the most important thing about who you are? Some of that stuff we have to bring to Jesus and say, jesus, this is not in line with what you want from me. So I'm going to crucify that and I'm going to say, God, you do with that what you want to do with it.

I'm going to follow you. And some of the stuff is just really neutral, like the fact I saw they did a study and they said, here's the bell curve of men's heights, the height of men in general. Well, I'm a little bit shorter than average. Is that my identity? Is that the most important?

It's a thing about me. When you're in elementary school, when you're short like me, when you're in elementary school, you think that's the most important thing ever because you're like, everyone is taller than me. Life stinks, right? You think like, that's the most important thing. But then you grow up and you go, I'm the height that I am.

Who cares? You know, it's just a neutral thing that just is what it is. And God creates diversity in life. He creates different people of different races and genders and cultural experiences and all that kind of stuff. That's fine.

We bring that to God and say, okay, God, this is a tool. How can you use this about me for me to join you in your work reconciling the world to yourself? How can I use that? My wife and I have been doing foster care for some time, and we have a couple kids that are like transracial adoptions. They're of a different race than us.

And it's been interesting to kind of think and process through that, to say, what really is the part of us that. That is part of our identity, that is our race? It's been really interesting to kind of work through that. And I'm convinced that it's important because it's all part of our culture. It's all part of how we are and how we see the world.

And there's beautiful things that come with diversity of race. And so it's not something that we have to try and put away and say, okay, well, we're gonna pretend like this child is a different race than us. No, we can bring it to God and say, okay, God, you've made this about me. How can you use this to make people right with you? I want to join you in your work.

So I can't tell you how God has created you. You are his workmanship. He's made a factory with all kinds of different tools to do different jobs. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you, this is the work you're supposed to do here. Everybody do this.

Everybody do that. You need to do this. No, this is the part of the journey of following Jesus. He's called you to do something, though. He's called you to get to work.

Because the world needs some good works. The world needs God's people active in the world, showing his love, his grace to people. And you got a part to play in that. What is that part? I don't know.

Ask him. Say, God, I don't want to just sit on the sidelines watching the world go by. I want to join you in your work. That's. This is the kind of faith life that God gives us, is to join him.

It's exciting. It's a journey. And guess what? There's no bearing on your ability to do those works. Doesn't get in the way between you and God.

If you've trusted him, you are right with God and nothing will get in between that. So if you try something and you absolutely fail, you're still right with God. So try something. Like, there's freedom that comes with this. You try something and it absolutely goes terrible.

You're like, well, that was awful. I'm gonna try something new, right? Because there's a freedom that comes. There's a weight that's lifted off. This is not what makes you right with God.

This is you joining him on the journey. And it's fun and it's exciting. So ask him, God, how did you make me, God? What part of me would you want to use? What part of me do I need to crucify and put aside?

What part of me do you want to use to help this world see that you love them and that you want to be made right with them and get to work. The work is not up here preaching. The work is not up here singing songs. No, we're all up here equipping each other, working together to say, y', all, let's join God in his redemptive mission to mankind. And we all have a part to play in that.

So first, will you move from death to life. Recognize that our life comes from faithing in Jesus Christ, putting all our eggs in that basket to say, God, I'm going to be made right with you by your sacrifice, by Jesus dying in my place on the cross. That's where I'm going to put all my trust. And then recognize that there are forces that are trying to keep us back living in the way that we used to live before we had life. Recognize those and ask God to help you navigate that and put those aside so that you can live the life that he wants.

And then get to work. Ask God to show you how he wants to use you in his world, to join him in his plan to bring about all to be made right with Him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for this scripture.

Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your life. They are gifts to us. We did not earn them, we simply received them.

And so we come with a heart of gratitude for all that you've done for us, starting with the work on the cross through Jesus Christ dying in our place so that we can be made right with you. I pray for anyone here this morning that has not put their trust in you, that they. They would not leave this place without recognizing the gift of life, that you offer, the gift of grace, that you offer the gift of love, and that they would put their trust in you. I pray for all of us, Lord, that we would be energized by the call to join you in your work. That wherever we are, we can look around and look to see people that need your love, people that need your grace, and that we would be taking part of that and joining you in your work.

Give us wisdom as we do that. Give us grace, Give us freedom. Give us joy. Help us to be aware of those forces that are trying to keep us from that, Lord, but bring it to you and not feel a weight that we have to please you, Lord. But feel the joy that comes from working with the Creator of the universe, Lord, that has already accepted us.

We thank you and you pray this in your name. Amen.